1. Field of the Invention
In general, the present invention relates to cooking grills, such as barbecue grills and hibachi grills. More particularly, the present invention relates to grills that have forced air ventilation systems.
2. Prior Art Description
Open flame cooking grills, such as barbecue grills, cook food over an exposed flame. As the food cooks, drippings from the food fall away from the food. As drippings separate from the food, some of the dripping are vaporized by the heat of the open flame and become part of the exhaust smoke. The exhaust smoke surrounds the cooking food, therein providing the food with added flavor components.
Since cooking over an open flame allows fats and other drippings to separate from the cooking food, grilled food tends to contain less fat than baked foods or fried foods. Furthermore, due to the added flavoring from the exhaust smoke, grilled food tends to have better flavors than its baked or fried counterparts.
The one disadvantage of grilling food is the large amount of exhaust smoke produced during cooking. The same smoke that adds flavor to the food also prevents many grills from being used indoors. Unless a kitchen has a large capacity ventilation system, open flame grills are unsafe. Typically, only commercial kitchens and high-end domestic kitchens have large volume ventilation systems sufficient to support an open flame grill. Accordingly, most people who want to cook over an open flame grill must cook outdoors. If the weather is bad or the outdoor temperature uncomfortable, then the benefits of cooking on the grill must be weighed against the inconvenience of cooking outside.
Recognizing that people like to grill and would like to grill indoors, various range top manufacturers have produced cooking ranges with open flame grills. Such ranges are placed below large vent hoods or have side vents that draw away smoke with powerful fans. Open flame grills with side vents that draw smoke are exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 4,884,554 to Yanagida and U.S. Pat. No. 4,813,397 to Yamade, entitled Charcoal Fired Smokeless Roaster. The problem associated with such side vent grills is that the food must be covered in order to direct the smoke toward the side vents. As soon as the cover is removed from the food, the smoke rises directly upwardly and bypasses the ventilation system. Since many people prefer to grill with the food uncovered and accessible, such side ventilation grills have had little commercial success.
A need therefore exists for an open flame grill that can be properly ventilated without a large overhead ventilation system and without requiring that the cooking food be constantly covered. This need is met by the present invention as described and claimed below.